He said: "There's nothing to stop me keeping in a line as I take off down a runway, staying on a bearing, knowing my altitude and airspeed."

Under Civil Aviation Authority rules, he was accompanied on the Channel crossing by pilot-in-command Storm Smith, 41, from Newcastle.

Mr Hilton-Smith, who works as a motivational development manager for the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB), plans to make aviation history again next year when he recreates the first flight from London and Sydney in 1917.

Mr Hilton Barber plans to fly to Australia next year with his co-pilot

He hopes to raise £1.3m for the RNIB through the 35-day trip, on which he will again be accompanied by Mr Smith.

He said: "Apart from it being a great adventure for me, fulfilling one of my childhood dreams, it's also hopefully helping a lot of other people in Britain to have a better quality of life.

"It may also help them realise they can live their dreams despite being blind."

Mr Hilton-Barber lost his sight completely 20 years ago after suffering the genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa.

First aircraft

Since then, he has climbed mountains, made attempts on the South Pole and holds the record lap speed for a blind person on the Malaysian Grand Prix circuit.

Another of the pilots on Saturday, 51-year-old Chris Buxton, was carrying a fragment of wing fabric from the Wright Brothers' Flyer, the first powered aircraft to fly.

The Wright Brothers' first flight was on 17 December, 1903, at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.

Their trip - the first by a powered and manned aircraft - lasted just 12 seconds and covered no more than 120 feet (37 metres).